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Mirii was sitting on a chair, as her hands were resting in between her legs. Her right leg was on her left one. A rectangular table was standing in front of her, which had file containers put on a pile, a small can containing various writing materials and electrical devices on the left side.
The three Inklings were sitting on a chair each, with Tiss' hands on the table and the man on the right with his hands behind his neck. Jak's arms were folded, while standing on the left. All three were standing behind the table, in front of the girl.
"If you came sooner, I would offer you an espresso or something…" Tiss' mouth downturned slightly.
"I already had breakfast." Mirii nodded.
"I wouldn't mind having a real one, right now…" Jak's eyes flattened. "I can't keep just eating a small croissant every morning…"
"We have a budget, Jak." The man on the right shook his head. "Having those Zapfishes is already a feat…"
Tiss' mouth sealed, as her irises went down for three seconds, before returning to the middle.
"Mirii… the reason we are here is because of the pictures you have seen before." Her eyebrows lowered a bit.
Mirii's eyes grew a bit.
"… are you implying that those drawings are r-really…"
Tiss nodded.
"Yes… they are real Inklings."
Mirii's jaw dropped. Tiss' head turned to her right, lowering a bit, as her face's upper side went darker.
"Well… they aren't really Inklings now, since they are now an abstract image of themselves… anyone would think that an artist did such thing."
Mirii's irises shrunk a bit.
"… how do you know that those drawings were really"
"They matched with the missing Inkling reports." The man rose his mouth, as he tilted his chair backwards, standing on its two back-legs. "We noticed how those reports kept vanishing inside the HQ… curious about the events, we decided to investigate."
"At the time, we only had one lead to follow…" Jak bended forward. "… this abandoned building."
"You entered inside the building and discovered the solution behind the mystery?" Mirii's head rose, as her arms folded.
"Yes." Tiss' head returned in the middle, as darkness was still present on her face's upper side. "It appears that this building holds a secret… aside from the lab's existence, of course."
"Project Neo!" Mirii frowned, as her head lowered. "I knew it! Only such project would go as far as carrying Zapfishes illegally!"
"We don't know exactly the reason… but we know that the HQ doesn't want to deal with it." Tiss' eyes emerged a bit from the darkness. "We believe they would even go as far as firing all the Agents who attempt to expose the mystery behind this building."
"Obviously, we didn't wanted to leave those Inklings trapped inside a wall…" The man frowned. "That's why we decided to use a particular strategy: I have dear friends who work in the computer data unit. I asked them to check if there were files who would imply Agents' presence inside the building… also to make sure no one would inspect the Inknet and find evidence concerning our presence in here!"
"I arranged a request of area patrol, where only we 3 would control the area where the building is." Tiss smiled. "I worked on it all day… the chiefs took a while, before finally granting us the role."
"In the meantime, I studied the lab's documents." Jak's hands clasped. "I have a degree in Science, so I knew what I was reading…"
"I see…" Mirii's right hand went on the table. "With such plan, you would be able to work inside this lab, without drawing the attention of other Agents."
"Actually, I think almost all the HQ knows about this… in a rumor form, to be exact." The man nodded. "It's not confirmed, as far as I know… I'm thinking that those Agents don't even care about this."
"I have never heard this rumor before…" Mirii's fingers tapped the table once. "In any case, you are been working in here for a long time?"
"Less than a year." Jak's eyelids lowered to the middle. "I estimated that in 4 months, we might have a solution to work with."
His head turned to his left, raising a bit and staring at a Zapfish, which was turning around, while making noises.
"The only problem we have is the electricity source. Zapfishes are the only ones who can provide energy for our devices." His head shook. "I have a friend who works in the Power Station: he's providing us the creatures. Although, they can't stay here forever… even though we feed them normally."
"Is it because they are away from their own habitat?" Mirii's eyes squeezed a bit.
"In a nutshell." Jak smiled, while nodding and turning his head towards the girl. "Because of that, they accumulate stress… if they have too much of that, they will start release huge bursts of electricity, which could destroy the machines and computers kept in here."
"Thus, you have to give them back to the Power Station…" Her eyes closed. "I see."
"There is another room, where Inklings are held as drawings…" Tiss frowned a bit. "It's all because of the Painter Converter… it's a substance who's sticking on the walls, ceiling and floor."
"The Painter Converter… could it be a prototype of that invention they used in Museum d'Alfonsino?!" Mirii's irises went to her right. "If that's true… perhaps the solution does already exists!"
"Something wrong, Mirii?" The man pushed his chair forward, as his elbows landed on the table.
"… my feet were melting, until I went on that basin…" Mirii's irises went in the middle. "How come you are not using it inside those rooms?"
"We did that, already…" Several sweat drop appears behind Jak's head, as his eyes were closed. "That ink you see inside the basin, is the only thing who can save an Inkling from the Painter Converter… I learned it from the documents. Unfortunately, it's not effective on Inklings already changed into drawings…"
"We still don't understand why the substance is kept so strong!" Tiss frowned more, as her fists clenched. "We are suspecting that the drawings are the ones producing it… luckily, it can't spread too far from the source."
"… uhm…" Everything surrounding Mirii went gradually darker. "… should I… … should I tell them about the museum…?"